Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 38.djvu/867

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LITERARY NOTICES.
847

twice in the first cycle of photographs. The plates overlapped, so that a spectrum which appeared near the corner of one plate would appear near the center of another. The work was then repeated by a second similar cycle of plates. Each star should, in general, appear on four plates. Owing to the overlapping of the regions and the repetition of plates which were not satisfactory, this number is greatly increased for many of the stars. The faintest stars appear on only one plate. In this case a second independent measure was always made. Eight type photographs of as many stars are given in the frontispiece to the volume. But the general appearance of a copy of a photograph varies so much with changes in exposure and development that it is difficult to convey an idea of the original negative by a paper print.

Guides for Science Teaching. No. VIII, Insecta. By Alpheus Hyatt and J. M. Arms. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers. 1890.

The teachers are again under obligations to Prof. Hyatt and also to his coadjutor Miss Arms for the admirable Guide which is now before us. One follows a path laid out by this distinguished naturalist sure that he will have no pitfall in the way. He does not start on a road that is just six weeks long, but finds a broad avenue, with here and there places where he can use his own powers of observation and perhaps find a shorter cut. As stated in the preface, the Guide is a series of replies to questions which have arisen in the minds of its authors while teaching. "Teacher and scholars should recognize that science is infinite, and demands from all its votaries a modest acknowledgment of this fact. They should work more as companions learning from each other's observations, and less as teacher and pupils, than in those studies which can be taught from written treatises." The Guide is illustrated by 223 figures, derived from the highest sources or drawn from originals, and presents the latest knowledge concerning the structure and classification of insects. To an old-time entomologist it will seem odd to find other groups raised to the dignity of the seven well-known orders, for now we have to face sixteen orders. This, after all, simplifies the work of analysis. A unique diagrammatical plate, showing the probable origin of the different orders and their relation to each other; a synopsis of the contents; a list of letters and signs which are uniform throughout the book; and an exhaustive index at the end combine to make the work an indispensable guide to the study of insects.

Higher Education of Women in Europe. By Helene Lange, of Berlin. Translated and accompanied by Comparative Statistics by L. R. Klemm, Ph. D. International Education Series. Edited by W. T. Harris, LL. D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 36 + 186. Price, $1.

In this work, those interested in the higher education of women (and who out of Germany are not?) will find a most rational treatment of the subject.

In the editor's preface attention is called to the changed condition of women by the advent of labor-saving machinery, which has taken the old hand-labor from thousands. Multitudes who were formerly occupied are stranded for want of something to do. The incompetent become paupers. This condition presses harder upon the women, and avenues of rough industry which are closed against them drive them to immoral lives. It is believed, and with good reason, that, if every avenue of work was opened equally to women, different results would follow.

The figures given by Dr. Klemm show that the question of the higher education of women is no longer a problem in this country, and England is fast following our example. In other European countries, notably in Prussia, the case is far different, and in the one occupation for which women are eminently fitted, that of teachers, not more than ten per cent are found in this field, as compared with the United States, where sixty-three per cent of the entire number of teachers are women; taking the cities of the United States alone, over ninety per cent are women. Now, either one of two things is to be noted from these figures—either we are committing a colossal blunder or the Germans are.

Miss Lange says: "The English teacher and principal enjoys unquestioned authority, externally and internally. In German public girls' schools the older students know, or instinctively feel, that the education of the